Agriculture and climate change

Vehicles wade through floodwater on Nguyen Van Cu street of Ninh Kieu district, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho. Tidal surge has seriously flooded many streets in Can Tho since early October (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – As one of the countries hardest hit by climate change, Vietnam has been actively performing international commitments and exerting efforts to ease its impacts, on official has said. Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) Le Cong Thanh made the statement during a high-level dialogue on climate change which took place in Hanoi on October 10. The event was jointly held by the MoNRE, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with the participation of experts, managers, policymakers, scientists and businesspeople, among others. Thanh noted that in addition to the adoption of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Vietnam has issued guidance for the implementation of the agreement … [Read more...] about Vietnam exerts efforts to ease climate change impacts: official

Local firms call for State support in adapting to climate change By Nhan Tam Panelists discuss the cooperation between enterprises and the State in response to climate change impacts at a seminar in Danang City on September 5 - PHOTO: NHAN TAM DANANG – Domestic enterprises participating in a seminar held today, September 5, in Danang City called for the support of State management agencies and nongovernmental organizations to help them cope with disaster risks and adapt to climate change. At the seminar, themed “Developing the network of enterprises adapting to natural disasters and climate change in Vietnam,” held by the Danang branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Asia Foundation, Huynh Quang Vinh, general director of An Giang Fruit-Vegetables & Foodstuff JSC (Antesco), noted that climate change has significantly affected the company’s material resources, resulting in losses of VND20 billion last year. The company later … [Read more...] about Local firms call for State support in adapting to climate change

Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Can Tho (VNA) - Vietnam has been promoting the application of high technologies in agriculture production as part of efforts to adapt to climate change and strive towards sustainable agriculture development, heard the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on July 19. Participants to the event are debating impacts caused by climate change on the regional agriculture as well as advantages and challenges of the progress towards sustainable agricultural development and adaptation to climate change in ASEM member countries. Dr. Tang The Cuong, Director of the Department of Climate Change under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment stressed that Vietnam considers climate change response as a vital task as it is one of the countries hardest hit by climate change. The Vietnamese Government has taken drastic actions in restructuring its economy, especially agricultural restructuring, in order to cope with climate … [Read more...] about Hi-tech application touted as solution to climate change adaptation

The Mekong Delta suffers from severe drought and salinity intrusion in 2016 (Photo: VNA) Can Tho (VNA) – The European Union (EU) and European countries have been carrying out a number of climate change adaptation and sustainable development projects in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. The biggest partners and donors are the EU, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary and Romania, according to the Foreign Ministry’s information released at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Conference on Climate Action to Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals – Ways Forward in Can Tho city on June 18-20. Specifically, the EU implemented a project building a sustainable tra fish (pangasius) supply chain from April 2013 to March 2017 with total investment of 1.9 million EUR (2.2 million USD) and another conducting scientific studies on climate change and coastal erosion in Quang Nam, Ca Mau, and Tien Giang provinces in 2016-2017 worth 1 million EUR (1.15 million USD). The EU also … [Read more...] about European countries implement climate change projects in Mekong Delta

Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Lessons learned from the strategic mainstreaming of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) was a good foundation for Vietnam to prepare for climate change, according to Dr. Nguyen The Chinh from the Natural Resources and Environment Strategic Institute. Chinh was speaking at a workshop on February 6 reviewing a project on the subject. It was held by the Institute for Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation Agency. The event marked more than three years of productive collaboration. The 4-million Euro (4.9 million USD) project funded by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) worked with the Vietnamese Government to mainstream ecosystem-based measures into pilot models in Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces. "After three years of implementation, the project evaluated the vulnerable ecological situation in Ha Tinh and Quang … [Read more...] about Project helps provinces improve adaptation to climate change

After René Castro-Salazar attended the first U.N.-led climate talks in Berlin in 1985 as Costa Rica's environment and energy minister, he tried to talk about agriculture and climate change - but few wanted to join the conversation. "There was always opposition - and we couldn't understand why," said Castro, now assistant director-general at the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). To him, the need to tackle the topic was clear. Agriculture, forestry and other land uses together account for nearly a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions heating up the planet, according to the FAO. Cutting these is essential if the world is to keep global temperature rise to a manageable level, said Castro. Farms and forests can also store large amounts of carbon, and simple actions by all countries could result in immediate environmental benefits, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. In the early years, the climate negotiations focused on reducing emissions from the energy … [Read more...] about Can agriculture and the climate fix their ‘unhappy marriage’ in 2018?

NDO/VNA – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) held a workshop in Hanoi on November 24 to launch a project on improving the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities towards climate change related impacts in Vietnam. The project worth more than US$29 million is funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) through the UNDP and will be implemented during 2017-2022. It aims at raising resilience against the bad consequences of climate change in Vietnam through building safe homes, increasing the coverage of mangrove forests, and providing trustworthy information concerning climate risks. Accordingly, the project will help build 4,000 houses designed to resist flood and regenerate 4,000 ha of mangrove forests, and update information about losses of disasters and climate. The project is expected to benefit 28 coastal localities, with the focus on northern Nam Dinh province, central Quang Binh, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang … [Read more...] about Project to improve resilience towards climate change in coastal areas Most Recent News

NDO – The 25th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM-25) has concluded successfully, wrapping up the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week 2017 held between November 6 and 11 in the coastal city of Da Nang, and marking Vietnam’s completion of its role as the hosting economy of the APEC Year 2017. * APEC Leaders Issue Da Nang Declaration * President Tran Dai Quang chairs the 25th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting Since its inception in November 1989, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has become a leading economic cooperation forum in the region and the world, offering a market of around 2.8 billion people and contributing nearly 60% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and 49% of global trade. The forum has become a convergence of the world’s major economic, trade and technology centres, together with the innovation and creativity capabilities of its members, operating under the principle of consensus cooperation, nonbindingness and voluntariness. The … [Read more...] about New vision and dynamism for APEC Most Recent News

Rice farm project aims to reduce climate changeBy Le Hoang Vu - The Saigon Times DailyIt is the first time the model has been applied in the Mekong Delta, Doan Ngoc Pha, deputy director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of An Giang, said.To reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 100 hectares of rice in Binh Hoa Ward of Chau Thanh District, scientists will regulate fertilizer, herbicide and pesticide levels. The new farming technique should also reduce input costs and increase harvests.The model will be expanded to 500 hectares in 2015 and to the whole delta if it’s successful. … [Read more...] about Rice farm project aims to reduce climate change

Mekong Delta urged to confront climate changeBy Chinh Phuc - The Saigon Times DailyCAN THO – Local and foreign experts at a two-day conference ending last Friday in Can Tho City called on localities in the Mekong Delta to heighten preparedness to cope with consequences of climate change as the region is forecast to be hit the hardest by natural disasters in the future.Experts attending the forum suggested many solutions to help the delta tackle negative impacts of the disasters. The event is a significant step towards the United Nations Climate Change Conference that will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, said Danish Ambassador Peter Lysholt Hansen.The Australian government pledged to cooperate with Vietnam to cope with developments of climate change and raise public’s knowledge of the matter. The Australian Center for International Agricultural Research will fund US$3.5 million for a research on a new rice variety that can grow in the changing climate, said Australian … [Read more...] about Mekong Delta urged to confront climate change